As any small business owner knows, if the business isn’t coming to the office, you have to bring the office to them. Depending on the size of your sales force or service department, you might need to purchase or rent company vehicles. In any case, if you or employees are driving on the road for a business related venture, your company will be held responsible for any accidents or injuries that occur involving your company’s vehicle.

If an accident does occur, there are a number of accident insurance policies that could come into play. First and foremost, the driver of the vehicle’s personal insurance will kick in, covering physical damages and injuries. Secondly, if you are renting the car, the additional insurance purchased at the time of the rental will cover any additional physical injury or liability damages. Lastly, the Hired Auto Insurance will cover your company in the event that the other party involved in the accident wishes to sue your company for any reason.

Because there are so many places to point fingers after an auto accident, especially one involving a company vehicle, it is vitally important that your company is protected against lawsuit. Speak with your business insurance agent to receive a quote on hired or non-owned auto insurance coverage.

No matter how you feel about your clients, good or bad, it is a dreaded day when two business partners choose to go their separate ways. Sometimes this severance is accompanied by a potential lawsuit, depending on the nature of the split, which only makes matters worse. However, before a lawsuit ever sees the inside of a courtroom, there are alternative steps that can be taken to resolve the dispute.

Many times, this dispute resolution alternative must be built into the contracts beforehand, requiring both parties to try to settle things outside of court. Options for this resolution might include mediation or arbitration. Although slightly different, there are many advantages to each method. More about mediation and arbitration can be read here: Dispute-Resolution Alternatives

The long and short of it is this…do everything you can to keep the dispute out of court, make sure you have alternative dispute resolution ideas built into your contract, and more importantly, make sure you do all you can to maintain great relationships with clients and business partners.

For more tips on creating business contracts, please visit ContractEdge.com. Here you can find contract templates for independent contractors and subcontractors in a variety of technical business fields.

Many small business owners have one question – “How flexible is my small business insurance policy?” Many times, small business owners need to increase their policy limits for a specific job or for a limited time and are unsure if they can do so without rewriting an entire policy. The short answer is “yes” your policy can be fairly flexible depending on your carrier, although, if you are adjusting your policy monthly, this might not go over well with the carrier.

Keep in mind that most adjustments to policy limits are increases to the amount of coverage necessary. If you are lowering your coverage limits, then something was probably wrong with your policy to begin with, or you are running the risk of being underinsured if a suit is ever brought against you.

You should also keep in mind that the amount of coverage you are able to utilize is based on your policy limit when the claim is filed, not when the job is delivered. This means that once you are done with a project, you should not immediately lower your policy limits in case a suit is brought against you. It is sometimes difficult to determine how much coverage you will really need when taking on a new job, so thankfully your existing policy can be flexible to handle necessary adjustments to your policy.

For more information on adjusting your insurance policy limits or determining how much coverage to purchase, please visit the TechInsurance Small Business Center.

Unfortunately, many small business owners are not familiar with Business Interruption Insurance. Not only are they unfamiliar with its benefits, but they don’t know whether a claim is able to be covered by their policy if the need arises.

In short, business interruption insurance covers your business in the event that you are no longer able to function normally due to a natural disaster or similar event. For example, if a hurricane damaged your office building, business interruption insurance could cover the expenses of new equipment, moving to a new facility, and any potentially lost income based on historical records. Small business owners operating in certain areas of the country will find this coverage almost a necessity, because of its broad scope and forgiving nature.

It is also important to understand exactly what is covered by the business interruption policy. Business interruption insurance is tied very closely with your property damage insurance. Anytime a property damage claim is made, if that claim is potentially causing you to lose income, you might be eligible to make a claim on your business interruption insurance as well.

For more information on business interruption insurance, visit the TechInsurance Small Business Center. Here we offer tips on how small business owners can operate their businesses more effectively and less expensively.

As a marketing consultant, you are rarely judged on tangible factors. As a result, it is important to have errors and omissions coverage for your company or private practice. Since you don’t technically deliver a tangible product in most cases, it can be very easy for your client to allege that you didn’t actually “deliver” what was promised.

Marketing consultants can be difficult to analyze in terms of risk and liability, so it’s better to be safe than sorry when dealing with insurance coverage. General liability insurance will not be enough to cover your company when allegations of errors or omissions with your work are brought against you.

Thankfully, there is a separate business insurance option known as professional liability insurance for Marketing Consultants. This specifically tailored insurance policy covers you the consultant where you need it most. Hopefully you will never have to make a claim on your policy, but you should rest assured that if you ever need to, the proper coverage will be in place.

For more information about running a successful marketing consultancy, please visit the TechInsurance Small Business Center. Here we offer tips on how to communicate with clients, minimize risk, and properly protect yourself and your business if the need arises.

The corporate veil is what protects the executives of a company from being subject to lawsuit based on the actions of the corporation as a whole. This means that if the corporation is being sued for any reason, the individuals cannot be subject to the lawsuit. There are, however, exceptions to this law. As a corporate executive, it is important to understand that circumstances that can allow this corporate veil to be “pierced” and how to take precautions against this ever happening.

First and foremost, the corporation needs to maintain its legal status as a separate entity. Ensuring that finances and activities are separated is crucial to maintaining this legal status.

If the corporation ceases to pay dividends or taxes in a timely fashion, this can open up the corporate veil and the individual executives could be held financially responsible. For this reason, fastidious attention to company records and legal contracts must be kept at all times. If anything slips through the cracks, it could mean that lawsuits could potentially filter through to individuals as opposed to the corporation itself.

For more information on protecting your corporation and its members, please visit the TechInsurance Small Business Center.

Errors and Omissions claims only involve claims of professional negligence. For this reason, it is vitally important that management consultants carry this coverage continuously. Since the majority of the work that management consultants provide falls under the category of “professional consultation,” it is errors and omissions claims that will make up the bulk of any suits brought against you or your consultancy.

As a consultant, you must also pay close attention to the factors under your control that can reduce your risk of being charged with an E&O claim.

It is important to note that errors and omissions coverage is not a part of your general liability insurance policy. Failure to make this distinction could result in a lack of coverage, leaving you open to legal suits. No matter how thoroughly and professionally you conduct your management consultancy, there is always the risk of an errors or omissions claim being brought against you.

For more information regarding errors and omissions insurance for management consultants, please visit Business Insurance Now or the TechInsurance Small Business Center.

Many small business owners are confused about the coverage they get from their general liability insurance policy. While this is the most basic of all business insurance policies, there are quite a few things that it will not cover you for. It is important to understand what you’re not covered for (commonly referred to as “exclusions”) and take necessary precautions to mitigate the probability of one of these excluded claims arising.

The most common exclusion on your general liability insurance policy is claims of professional negligence or errors and omissions. If the damage resulting from negligence on you or your employee’s behalf resulted in non-physical damage, your general liability insurance will not cover the suit.

If your employees claim that you treated them unfairly or discriminatively, your general liability insurance will not be able to cover you. This exclusion can be covered by purchasing employers practice liability insurance or EPLI.

The last major exclusion deals with your subcontractors. Any subcontracted work that you bring through your doors is not covered by your general liability policy. This means that you should get separate coverage for your subcontractors, or ensure that the subcontractors you use are utilizing their own coverage policies.

For more information on general liability insurance and how it pertains to your small business, please visit the TechInsurance Small Business Center.

When one thinks of risky jobs, a computer programmer is probably not at the top of everyone’s list. It depends on which list you’re looking at, however. From an errors & omissions insurance standpoint, programmers have some of the riskiest jobs in the world. A single error in a line of code could turn into an exploitable flaw allowing hackers & web criminals to have access to private information. The impending lawsuits could mean millions or billions in payouts and damages.

Although the situation I just painted looks fairly grim, the shining light in this muddled mess is proper E&O coverage. Programmers and systems integrators would be foolish to operate without this most basic of coverages. Do yourself a favor and make sure that your business insurance policy is up to date with the most comprehensive errors and omissions insurance coverage.

For more information on protecting your programming business from lawsuit risk, visit the TechInsurance Small Business Center.